[.ca] Tuva Among the Spirits - Sound

From Amazon.com:
Thanks to the astonishing clarity of modern recording techniques, this remarkable CD documents the oldest form of music making, which producer-recorders Ted Levin and Joel Gordon refer to as "sound mimesis," or the art of imitating natural sounds through music, as practiced in Tuva. With a variety of musicians, including members of Huun-Huur-Tu and other regular folk musicians and farmers, these 19 tracks were recorded outdoors on location (with the exception of two recorded in a small living room). Musicians and singers interact with the sounds of wild and domestic animals and environmental sounds like streams, the wind, and bird song. Throat singing and xomuz echo the harmonics of a babbling brook, upturned igil (fiddle) and doshpuluur (lute) replicate the effect of a wind harp with the breeze caressing the strings, and horsemen chant in the saddle, picking up the rhythm of galloping steeds. These and many other examples illustrate a living animist tradition where the boundaries between sound and song have no clear definition; indeed, the very term "music" as the Western world interprets it has no equivalent, and Tuva, Among the Spirits may well make you reassess the latent music in your own environment. --Derek Rath

one of the best albums of all time:
the best electro-acoustic record i have ever heard that isn't trying to be an electro-acoustic record at all. a wonderfuly recorded and edited album that captures the beautiful sound world of sakha, tuva and the people who live there. you've really got to hand to these guys for the editing style they used, making you feel like your listening to both a world music record and a 20th century sound collage. the edits are subtle, but they create a flow that is takes the listener through a complete and satisfying listening experience. very inspiring.

good but not enough throat singing:
I bought this for Tuvan throat singing and was presented with long periods of silence and perhap's the odd warble in the background! One track on the CD (you can just hear 'em) has throat singing.

Beautiful Nature, Beautiful Culture:
This is, quite simply, one of the most beautiful albums I've ever heard. The interplay between human, animal, and natural sounds here is effortless, and it dramatizes better than any other release I've heard the true spirit of both Tuvan music and Tuvan culture.

• Reverberant Valley
• Sakha Animal Imitations - Huun-Huur-Tu
• Tuvan Round-Up - Huun-Huur-Tu
• Fantasy on the Igil - Huun-Huur-Tu
• Birds and Bird Imitations - Huun-Huur-Tu
• Xöömei on Horseback - Huun-Huur-Tu
• Borbangnadyr With Stream Water
• Xomuz Imitating Water
• Home on the Mountain Range
• Ang-Meng Mal-Magan Öttüneri (Limitation of Wild & Domestic Animals)
• Ang-Meng Mal-Magan Öttüneri (Reprise)
• Harmonics in the Wind
• Sonic Landscape
• Legacy of Ancestors
• Cave Spirits - Huun-Huur-Tu
• Kyzyl Taiga (Red Forest) - Huun-Huur-Tu
• Talking Xomuz - Huun-Huur-Tu
• Chiraa-Xor - Huun-Huur-Tu
• Epilogue